


Badlands

by Palex



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 19:50:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3423458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palex/pseuds/Palex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She didn't rise from the ashes. She swallowed the flame and let it boil her blood. She hunted him across the Capital Wasteland, but she didn't find herself until she returned to Vault 101.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Badlands

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like there's never enough background about James and Catherine.

_**2256** _

It’d been five years since he set off from the Commonwealth to pursue his research on what he now deemed Project Purity. Standing in front of the mirror wearing his formal Institute garb, James hardly recognized himself. The entire pristine white getup fit a tad more snug than he remembered, mostly due to the inordinate amounts of heavy lifting he’d been doing the past sixty-something months.

A sudden knock startled James out of his thoughts. Paladin Cross’ eyes crinkled in a soft smile as she peeked around the open door. “Your colleagues have arrived. Knight Colvin has led them to the Rotunda as per your instructions.” James waved his hand in dismissal. “I’ll be there in a moment.”

James leaned on the dresser and stared close up at his image on the grimy surface. There was the ghost of a crease between his brows, and deep circles carved under his eyes. The flesh of his cheeks had hollowed a bit which more clearly pronounced the definition of his cheekbones. Stubble dusted the slope of jaw. Losses considered, James was still an extremely attractive man and he knew it. He thrived on it.

Two women were inspecting the panels of the Purifier when he ascended the stairs of the Rotunda. Both were identical in height and dress. Even their hair was pulled into similar seamless chignons on the back of their heads.

“Welcome!” James clapped, startling the duo. “I see you’ve begun to acquaint yourselves with the equipment. Most of it I built myself, so I’m afraid it may take some time to familiarize— _Madison?"_

“Hello, James.”

For just a split second, James’ entire world went upside down and he was trapped in the midst of the wildest vertigo he’d ever experienced as Madison Li idly surveyed his creations. Flashes of genetically engineered wild flowers and memories of slick flesh sliding in tandem against his assaulted James’ senses. He’d never expected to see her again after ending things when he left the Institute.

“Excuse me,” James cleared his throat and smiled uncomfortably. “I wasn’t expecting you, Madison. A familiar face is a pleasant surprise here in the Wasteland.”

“Indeed.” Her gaze said otherwise. Madison angled towards the woman beside her. In his bewilderment, James had failed to note his ex-lover’s companion. His new colleague. Who was…

_Utterly gorgeous._

The scientist was a couple inches shorter than Madison and shared her Asian heritage. Her eyes were unusually tawny, framed by long sooty eyelashes sitting under delicately trimmed brows, set on an oval shaped face. Her bone structure and musculature was exquisite. James smirked crookedly as he sauntered up the last few steps of the Rotunda.

“I don’t believe we’ve met before. Madison, would you introduce us?”

“Of course,” she grit out between clenched teeth. Madison took a breath and schooled her expression into that infuriatingly familiar cool veneer.

“James, this is my sister, Catherine.”

* * *

 

_**2257** _

James’ lips worshiped the skin underneath them. Catherine moaned as he kissed a blazing trail across her stomach and up her sternum, pausing to lick a bead of sweat from the notch at the base of her throat. Her hands traveled from the tangled mess at his nape to fist the material of his lab coat. She giggled, and it was like a million bells tinkling in the Commonwealth breeze.

“This is why we’re not making any progress on Project Purity, James.”

“Finish installing the radiation filters later.”

His hands moved to cup her backside, grinding her against the control panel, letting the blunt edges cut into the smooth flesh of her back. He loved the way she became breathless when he touched her.

“What’ll we do if someone catches us?”

“Let them watch.”

* * *

 

_**2258** _

Rigor mortis stiffened Catherine’s fingers around James’ hand.

“Excella,” James words were muffled as he spoke into the fabric of Catherine’s gown. “That’s what I decided to name our daughter.”

White hot pain lanced through James’ chest, searing his blood with the intensity of unbridled emotion. If they’d taken more precautions, she’d still be alive. Perhaps if they’d gone scavenging for salvageable equipment in the downtown ruins, she’d still be alive. She would still be alive. What had gone wrong? Why? _Why why why_ —

A warm, living hand slapped him across the face with the force to send him sprawling on the dirty linoleum floor. His ears were ringing. From the force of the blow or the gravity of the situation, he couldn’t say. Pathetic, infantile wailing cut through the fog in his mind and brought James screeching to a halt in reality. Reality.

“James,” Madison’s voice was shaking. “It’s been two days. She’s not coming back.”

“Don’t talk about her like that,” he bit out as he picked himself up off the ground.

“She’s dead!” Madison screamed at the top of her lungs. James recoiled as he truly saw his friend for the first time since the delivery. It was apparent she hadn’t slept a wink either. Purple smudges marred her eyes and dried tear tracks stained her cheeks. In her arms there was a tiny bundle of fabric. Her niece.

James was on autopilot as he staggered around the operating table and reached for his child. Madison was wary at first, but handed her over with little resistance. Any attempts would be futile at this point. His body trembled when he curled her into his arms. “Excella,” he murmured to his daughter. Madison choked back a sob. James shifted her weight— seven pounds, two ounces —into his dominant left arm and extended the right out, draping it around Madison’s shoulder and pulling her close.

For now, he could indulge her one last time.

Because tomorrow, James and Excella would be long gone.

**Author's Note:**

> The middle snippet is a nod to the Project Purity journal "Better Days" in which Catherine just really wants to install some radiation filters and James just really wants to procreate.


End file.
